The Rio Vista Gas Field is a large natural gas field in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta in northern California, adjacent to Rio Vista, California. Discovered in 1936, and in continuous operation since, it has produced over 3.6 trillion cubic feet (100 km3) of gas in its lifetime, and retains an estimated reserve of approximately 330 billion cubic feet (9.3×109 m3).[1] In 2008 alone, the most recent year for which data was available, it produced 18 billion cubic feet (510,000,000 m3) of gas. Spanning portions of three counties and covering over 29,000 acres (120 km2), it is the largest natural gas field in California, and one of the fifteen largest in the United States.[2][3][4]
As of 2009, the primary operator on the field was Rosetta Resources of Houston, Texas, which owned 171 of the field's 189 active wells. The remaining 18 were run by several smaller operators, including Towne Exploration, Royale Energy, and Tri-Valley Oil & Gas.[5]
- ^ "2008 Report of the state oil & gas supervisor" (PDF). Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources. California Department of Conservation ("DOGGR 2009"). 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved August 21, 2010. p. 62.
- ^ Rosetta Resources, California Area of Operations. Available here
- ^ Jason Massad, "Buried Treasure: Rio Vista resource lies underground." The Reporter, Vacaville, California. Retrieved August 21, 2010. Available here [1].
- ^ While at least one oil field in California, such as Elk Hills, currently produce more natural gas overall, Rio Vista is the largest "non-associated" gas field, i.e. it produces gas not associated with oil.
- ^ DOGGR (2008), pp. 149, 150, 160